The Victory Of Sparta During The Peloponnesian War

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The definition of victory is one of the most complex problems of strategy, but it is also one of the most relevant as it is crucial to define the ends of every strategy formulation, the consequences of every conflict and the cost-effectiveness prospective when engaging in one. Victory is a treacherous concept subject to so many factors and subjectivities that its achievement is sometimes claimed by all the belligerents even if it is often hard to apply to any of them . Traditional definitions of victory, like imposition of the own will to an adversary or the achievement of the main objectives defined for a conflict, are not always applicable. At times all the traditional parameters for victory are met, but the outcome can be hardly described as victory. The victory of Sparta during the Peloponnesian War, or that of France and Britain in the First World War, were so costly that they fatally unbalanced the victors , leading them to a quick decline. …show more content…

Clausewitz already warned against this misleading concept. Victory is related to the political objectives defined for a conflict, not to the results of the military confrontation . Obviously the achievement of military victory matters, at least as far as it contributes to the achievement of the political objectives. However, a victory in the battlefield can be completely irrelevant, even damaging , and often only provides a temporary situation of advantage. This is perhaps the real meaning of every military victory: just a window of opportunity to facilitate a political victory through the application of different instruments of power in a situation of

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